Colorado Stuns Minnesota

BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's tennis team was resilient against Minnesota Sunday in the Rocky Mountain Tennis Center en route to a 4-1 victory.

"First of all, really proud of the team for the way we responded to yesterday," said head coach Danielle Steinberg. "I mean, yesterday wasn't an easy day for us. We weren't happy with how we showed up yesterday and the team chose to respond the right way and took that as motivation and today as another opportunity to step up and do better. We just told them that's the making of a good team, the way they respond. Some of us that had a really tough day yesterday, showed up today and showed up for the team and that you know to me that shows growth and maturity I'm super proud."

Colorado (8-4) bounced back in a big way after a difficult match against Denver on Saturday. The team handed the Gophers (10-3) their third loss of the season while dominating in all facets of the match.

The Buffs kicked things off in doubles with No.49-ranked Monica Malinen and Sara Nayar taking down Tina Kreinis and Cammy Frei in the No.1 doubles match 6-3. Sophia Derivan and Ky Ecton clinched the first team point with a 6-4 win in the No.2 doubles match against Dalila Said and Ekin Ercetin.

Heading into singles, Minnesota took the first point in the No.2 singles match as Said defeated Antonia Balzert 6-1, 6-3. Meanwhile on court one, Malinen and Kreinis were having their second match against one another in the No.1 singles match. Malinen easily took the first set 6-2, then entered a dog fight in the second set. Down 5-4, Malinen stormed back with a perfect game to make it 5-5 then walked away to victory with a 7-5 second set win.

"I'm really happy to see Monica dominating at one," said Steinberg. "She was close yesterday and played a really good match yesterday but came up short. She didn't hang her head low today just came out even stronger and motivated and got the W."

Both CU women in the No.1 doubles match took wins today as Sara Nayar gave the Buffs a 3-1 lead in the match after defeating Ercetin in three sets in the No.3 singles match. Nayar took the first set 6-3, then fell 6-2. She entered the third set and the pair traded games until a 4-4 tie when Nayar jumped to the lead and sealed her win 6-4.

"It was a tough day for Sara yesterday and then she showed up today focused in and knowing what she needs to do and fought for her team," said Steinberg. "That's a great match for her today, her opponent is a good player with a good record coming in and Sara stayed tough throughout the match, even with adversity and came out strong."

The final match point for Colorado was the quickest one as Derivan dominated Frei in the No.4 singles match. Derivan took the first set in a 6-0 sweep, not allowing Frei to eclipse 30 in any of the games. The second set wasn't as easy as they traded leads to three all, then Derivan finished it off to clinch the match at 6-3.

"We're excited for the Pac-12," said Steinberg on the importance of the win before the season. "We were just talking about it and this is the fun part of the season. Going out to Washington next weekend and have Arizona coming to us and the girls are excited to see where they stand in the conference and just want to bring it."

The Buffaloes enter Pac-12 play this upcoming weekend when they head to Washington to take on both schools.

RESULTS

Singles
1. Monica Malinen (COLO) def. Tina Kreinis 6-2, 7-5
2. Dalila Said (UM) def. Antonia Balzert 6-1, 6-3
3. Sara Nayar (COLO) def. Ekin Ercetin 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
4. Sophia Derivan (COLO) def. Cammy Frei 6-0, 6-3
5. Megan Forster vs. River Hart 5-3 unfinished
6. Maria Campos vs. Juliet Zhang

Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3, 4

Doubles
1. #49 Malinen/Nayar (COLO) def. Kreinis/Frie 6-3
2. Derivan/Ecton (COLO) def. Said/Ercetin 6-4
3. Balzert/Farrow (COLO) vs. Hart/Zhang 5-5 unfinished

Order of Finish: 1, 2

Next Event

Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Antonia Balzert

Maria Campos

Sophia Derivan

Ky Ecton

Megan Forster

Monica Malinen

Sara Nayar